Mendy Chitrik

The writer serves as the Ashkenazi rabbi of Turkiye and chair of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States. Follow him on Twitter @mchitrik.

 THE GHRIBA synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, where this month’s attack took place: There was a sense of loss, but also an undercurrent of grim determination that this community would carry on, says the writer.

No fear, more effort to build after the Djerba attack - opinion

 THEN-PRIME Minister Naftali Bennett meets with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in Sharm e-Sheikh, in 2021. Unlike the Egyptians of old, today’s leaders welcome those who look and act differently, says the writer.

Passover: Celebrating Jewish-Muslim friendship - opinion

 ABBI ELI CHITRIK watches a World Cup match, wearing a traditional Orthodox Jewish hat, even as a Muslim wearing a keffiyeh is among the other fans sitting nearby.

Freedom of religion defeating tyranny - Hanukkah and the World Cup


The Jewish past and future in the Middle East

Passover this year will be celebrated in Jewish communities in Turkey, Egypt and Iran, and in many more countries throughout the Middle East.

 THE WRITER and his children, equipped with matzah for Passover, stand in front of a 2000-year-old synagogue in Sardis, Turkey.

Turkey-Israel peace and normalization is not just for governments - opinion

Synagogues and mosques, imams and rabbis, Jews and Muslims should work together, coordinating joint projects to preserve the heritage we both hold dear, and bringing aid to those in need.

 TURKISH FLAGS are seen on the facade of the restored Great Synagogue before a reopening ceremony in Edirne, western Turkey, in 2015.

Hanukkah marks expansion of religious freedom across Muslim world - opinion

While we still have a way to go combating antisemitism, Jewish life is able to flourish in countries across the Islamic world.

Jews and Muslims pose in front of a menorah at the Israeli pavilion for Expo 2020 in Dubai, last Sunday on the first night of Hanukkah.

For Jews in the Muslim world, an increasingly bright future awaits

Our communities are not just tolerated, but are very much part of – and supported – in the countries we call home.

THE AUTHOR speaks during a symbolic wedding ceremony during the European Days of Jewish Culture, at Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul, in 2017.